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I traveled all the way through the USA from the east coast to the west coast, by car and RV. I thought about getting a UMTS / LTE stick for my Notebook, too. But there really wasn't any need for this.
You can get FREE WIFI almost everywhere:
Coffee Shops (Starbucks, etc.)
Fast food Restaurants (Pizza Hut, McDonalds, KFC, etc.)
Camp grounds
Hotels
Shops / ...

I arrived at the kit below by adding gear only as needed. I started with just an iPhone and laptop and only added to that when it was literally impossible to get reliable internet at my accommodations with the gear I already had. I have trial-and-errored through a bunch of other gear that turned out to be unhelpful or not worth the bulk (e.g. higher ...

You can walk into any large carrier store - AT/T or T-Mobile in your case (since you probably have a GSM phone), and ask for a prepaid SIM card. No address proof, I don't even think they check your ID. T-Mobile usually has the best deals (value for money) and their 3G/4G network is pretty fast. Of course, I am assuming you have an unlocked GSM phone.
...

My experience with China's internet has been "Have a backup plan" if you need access to some services.
You can use Google's Transparency Report for China to determine the current status of Google Services in PRC. As of writing, no it does not appear to be blocked.
However, there are cases where it has been - and it might happen while you are there. If ...

Internet is everywhere in the UK. You can buy a wifi dongle with prepaid sim card in any mobile phone store on any network. The price is reasonable - about £15 for the dongle itself, which include 1 GB of data. Then you just pay for data packs (£7-10 per GB of data depending on the network).
Most hotels offer WiFi these days. Most small hotels include ...

The biggest problem with hotel wi-fi (and conference centre wi-fi) is us. Travelling nerds who need 2 or 3 IP addresses each (and try to do their work each evening while regular people are watching TV) typically bring these systems to their knees. I've had so many hotel people tell me they never get complaints like these the rest of the year, and I actually ...

One trick is to look up the place on Foursquare - if people have checked in on wifi, it's a sign there's likely free internet, and often if the connection is poor, people comment on that on foursquare as well.

@alx9r wrote a fantastically detailed post here, but I think it may be overkill. I'm on the road for most of the year and need to be connected 24/7 for work. For the most part you can get away with:
An mini-router (I use an Airport Express).
Flakey hotel wifi can be remedied by using a LAN cable to your mobile router, providing a personal wifi spot, ...

Similar to one of your last questions regarding China, asking for concrete non-chinese documentation on Chinese regulations is in most cases not answerable. Why?
Chinese officials are not known for transparency, rather the opposite. A lot of things, while visible at the surface through actions like stickers, blocked websites etc are extremely hard to find ...

Living in China 10+ years I can tell you with confidence that you will not get into trouble for using a VPN. Chinese people themselves also don't get into trouble for using one. (Promoting or sharing a VPN is a different matter obviously.)
I wouldn't waste my time finding actual laws, for two reasons:
Laws in China are interpreted differently than in the ...

German ICEs have some coaches that are considered to be "quiet zones" and some coaches are "talking zone". There are symbols on the walls that tell you what zone you are in. The symbols can be seen here:
http://www.bahn.de/p/view/service/zug/handy_u_ruhebereiche.shtml
So technically having a telecon is allowed in the "talking zones". For fairness, it is ...

Boingo offers "worldwide" Wi-Fi, with fixed fee, per minute, pay-as-you-go, and package deals. Their full plan listing is here. It starts at $7.95/month for unlimited worldwide access for two mobile devices.
I've not used the service and am not affiliated, but have them bookmarked for my own travels.

I'm in the same position as you -- I've been working in Sweden for the last 5 years, and I can tell you from experience that certain things will be difficult or nigh impossible if you don't have personnummer.
Talking specifically about banking, no, it won't be possible at all. Even with personal number you might run into difficulties if you are only a ...

OK after a couple of days of hunting I've found three places where I get a Wi-Fi signal and can buy a coffee or a beer, but only one had a sign and with the others I'm not sure whether the signal is from the place or a coincidental open one nearby...
"Bar Kafe Real Madrid" on Rruga Studenti right near Shesi Demokracia, the central traffic circle of the ...

This is NZ we're talking about. It's still lagging with a smaller population in terms of technology up-take and bandwidth capacity.
As such, currently, there are no unlimited data plans in NZ for mobile phones (Orcon has introduced them for broadband internet at home). Why? You can read the whole discussion about what might be required for this to happen ...

There are at least three sites online that cover this:
Jaunted
Wi-fi Free Spot
Airport Hotspot Finder
When I asked a similar question about Astana airport, my eventual solution was to use Foursquare - if people have checked in there, there's a good chance they had wifi, or may even mention it. I found the relevant page for the airport and voila - lots ...

Finally I got a 3 (http://three.co.uk) SIM for 1 pound and unlimited traffic data for 15 pounds.
You can get a 10 pounds - 500Mb plan too.
All of these things as a prepaid plan and working in less than a minute.
You get a ticket with a code to set your SIM card credit and that's all. Take a look at their plans here.

There are several different companies in Japan that rent or sell pre-paid SIM cards and portable Wifi Routers:
mb.softbank.jp
pupuru.com
bmobile.ne.jp
rentafonejapan.com
sallysrental.com
econnectjapan.com

It's possible and easy. You just have to go to one of the many mobile shops around and buy the sim card.
In Portugal there are 3 physical operators:
Meo formerly known as TMN
Optimus
Vodafone
You also have some virtual operators:
UZO - they usually have nice prices but everything is done on-line. You can buy a card in mobile phone shops or by snail ...

Cafés with Wi-Fi and power in central Valencia
Being out of Wi-Fi for a few days, I was forced to go on a hunt for Wi-Fi enabled cafés to work from in central Valencia. You'll have no trouble finding cafés with Wi-Fi, but finding one with power outlets, and where they welcome laptops, is not as easy. I always ask up front if I can work with a laptop, so the ...

While it won't show ports or limits or tell you much more about the cafe (for now), you can see locations and speeds using Instabridge.
It shows a map around you with available wifi, the location (eg name of cafe) and the tested speed of the connection. I've found it a handy quick resource for finding a cafe nearby.

The short answer is, "yes, in most places at most times." But there are some important exceptions.
China occasionally gets into "tiffs" with Google, or other Internet providers, which could cause a service disruption. Also, there may be a crackdown against the internet generally, possibly including email. Here's an example:
...

After some more research, and help from a friend here in Mexico, I have found that the following bus lines (listed in alphabetical order) offer free WiFi on some of their routes:
Autobuses Americanos provided me with Internet access between Austin, TX and Laredo, TX, but once we crossed into Mexico, the Nuevo Laredo to Monterrey stretch had no Internet ...

Like Jonik said, the WIFI usually only covers hotels, cafes and malls (shopping centres).
In Singapore however, the coverage is bigger, you can get WIFI freely across the island using Wireless@SG. The registration and usage are free. However the bandwidth really depends on the location.
In Malaysia / Indonesia, it would be better to buy a temporary 3G ...

I know an excellent service that has a highly informal interaction and is able to make suggestions based on vague requirements. It can ask questions to refine your requirements, and is even able to suggest modifications to those requirements if it thinks you can find a good deal. It has access to all the other websites that offer cheap travel, and can pick ...

Pre-paid phone service is a minority in the US, but it does exist. Most of the major carriers provide pre-paid access, and there are also some discount carriers (with limited coverage areas) such as the one I have used, SimpleMobile.
The easiest (and possibly only) way to purchase one of their SIMs without a US address will be to go to one of their retail ...

I recently traveled from Belgium to San Francisco.
I'm not sure whether it's the same as over there, but we had free WiFi in our hotel and in about every café, restaurant or tourist location we visited.
Some Belgian providers have certain deals for mobile usage in the US.
At Mobistar, there's a monthly plan with lower prices for texting, calling (in & ...

The best advice in this case for your friends would be to check the 'flights+hotel' sections of travel websites. Point is, the convenience factor of such deals is what could make them more expensive than manually putting together a holiday by booking cheapest flights and hotels separately. If you're asking for a site that does that for you - combining ...